Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan wasn’t backing down from brief skirmish with Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich

Bayern Munich was much better in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Allianz Arena than it was during the 3-0 loss in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals at the Etihad Stadium.

Bayern created far more chances in the second leg, but it still wasn’t enough to undo what was a dominant performance from City in the first leg. Erling Haaland’s 57th minute goal was cancelled out by a Joshua Kimmich penalty in the 83rd minute, but it was too little too late for Bayern. They were left to rue their missed chances over the course of both legs.

Kimmich was also at the heart of a brief skirmish during stoppage time of the first half with Germany teammate Ilkay Gundogan. Bayern had been on a positive run at the time, keeping the majority of possession pinned in to City’s half, but couldn’t register any chances to get the better of Ederson and get a goal boost before the stroke of halftime.

For the instance that led to the coming together between Kimmich, Gundogan, and even Dayot Upamecano, Bernardo Silva had played an aerial pass with pace to Gundogan to get out of pressure, and when Gundogan had been fouled by Leroy Sane, Kimmich took a slight kick at the ball that Gundogan was holding close to his torso. Gundogan immediately got up in a display of dissatisfaction with Kimmich’s actions and had a few choice words for his Germany teammate. Haaland, Upamecano, Leon Goretzka, Silva, and Kevin de Bruyne were all nearby to help diffuse the situation. Both Gundogan and Kimmich were booked as a result.

Speaking on the incident after the match, Gundogan felt he was justified for his quick reaction to Kimmich’s kick at him while he was on the ground after getting fouled by Sane. “I don’t have to put up with everything. I’m a quiet guy, but if I have the feeling an action was unnecessary, then I can show it. This time it was with Josh. We both are professional enough to assess the situation. It was not absolutely necessary, after the referee had already whistled, to kick the ball twice more, which then landed on my face. Accordingly, I expressed my displeasure. Things like that happen on the pitch,” he said to Sport1 (via @iMiaSanMia).

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